City plans to spend $105M on run-down apartments

Over the next two years, city officials hope to spend $105 million to upgrade 6,000 apartments near Hobby Airport and on the southwest side, a move they hope will attract stable tenants and new business investment to shoddy neighborhoods — and reverse urban decay. Who knew the secret to improving Houston's neighborhoods was interior decorating?

"We have many good people living in these projects," [interim city housing director David] Mincberg told the City Council. "They struggle to live in these aging properties while the conditions are deteriorating."

Mincberg said he hopes to provide "substantial rehabilitation" of 2,000 apartments in 2007 and 4,000 in 2008, at an average cost of about $17,500 per unit.

This would cost about $35 million in the first year and $70 million in the second.

Money is already available through HUD, and the city plans to seek additional federal and state money for the project, Mincberg said. It's not clear yet how the program will work — renovations could be funded outright by the city, or officials could arrange loans with favorable terms or find buyers who would renovate the complexes. But apartment industry leaders seem to be confident: "It was a brilliant move on the mayor's part to bring in an industry person to run the program," Houston Apartment Association President Jerry Winograd said. "He (Mincberg) won't sign off on a deal unless he knows it is the right deal."